Week 13 was a rough one for many NFC playoff hopefuls. It was business as usual for the perfect Packers, stingy 49ers and high-flying Saints, but the five other contenders— Cowboys, Giants, Bears, Lions and Falcons—all had frustrating losses.

Green Bay and San Francisco are already division champions, and New Orleans is on the brink of joining them. As for the always-hard-to-figure NFC East, it's up for grabs as usual. With the "Dream Team" Eagles fading out of the picture, it sets up an exciting four weeks for the Cowboys and Giants, with their head-to-head matchups serving as bookends:

Game of the Week

New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys. The Giants have dropped four consecutive games to fall to 6-6, but there's a feeling that what they did in last week's 38-35 loss to Green Bay is the spark they needed to take control of the NFC East. The Cowboys had won four straight before losing at Arizona, but based on the circumstances of that overtime loss, the enthusiasm has been curbed about the 7-5 division leaders.

Both teams will try to run the ball effectively to limit the damage of the opposing offense, but New York will have little success against the Dallas' front seven. The Cowboys need to make sure they feed rookie DeMarco Murray enough to take pressure off Tony Romo. The difference, however, will be Romo's counterpart, Eli Manning.

Look for the Giants to get some early deep shots to Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks to jump in front on the road. Manning should get into a consistent groove with his wide receivers, leaving Romo to play catch-up. Romo has plenty of downfield ammo with Dez Bryant, Laurent Robinson and Jason Witten, but he should face consistent heat from the Giants' front-four pass rush. Manning, despite some line shuffling in front of him, has been well protected. In his best season, he'll turn in his best performance to put the Giants back in the playoff forefront. Giants 31, Cowboys 27.

NFC-AFC Game of the Week

New Orleans Saints at Tennessee Titans. Drew Brees has been terrific at home the past two weeks, lighting up the Giants and Lions. But look at what he's done over six games in the Superdome (20 TDs, three interceptions) vs. six games away (10 TDs, eight interceptions. He needs to be careful here of not forcing the action against the Titans' feisty, physical cornerbacks. The good news for him is that Tennessee isn't getting much of a pass rush, so he should have time to get the ball down the middle of the field to Jimmy Graham and Lance Moore.

Matt Hasselbeck will have a chance to keep up because the Titans' pass protection has been excellent and the presence of red-hot running back Chris Johnson will keep the Saints' blitzes at bay. He'll need to look outside often to Damian Williams and Nate Washington. This will turn into a bit of shootout, but in that scenario it's hard not to go with rees, who has several more reliable weapons than Hasselbeck does. Saints 27, Titans 24.

Tebow of the Week

Chicago Bears at Denver Broncos. This was supposed to be a showcase for Jay Cutler against his former team. Instead, it becomes the hard-luck Bears as the next team in line to lose to Tim Tebow. You can bet Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs will be ready to chase down Tebow as a runner, so it's important that Tebow takes some high-percentage shots in the middle of the field. Chicago has had trouble covering the tight end, and Tebow’s two talented second-year wide receivers, Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker, have good size.

Although Tebow had to win his first shootout last week, this will be a low-scoring game. The Bears aren't capable of putting up points beyond the teens without Cutler and running back Matt Forte, and their intention will be to win ugly. They might get a little help if Broncos rookie linebacker Von Miller (thumb) must miss a second game.

Still, this is the kind of game Tebow loves: physical, gritty and close. Stop if you've heard this before: He'll do something to set up a game-winning field goal in the fourth quarter. Broncos 16, Bears 13.

Game of the Midweek

Cleveland Browns at Pittsburgh Steelers. The Browns are extremely difficult to watch every week. They don't score much, they make few big plays, and the best way to beat them is to pound away with a slow, steady running game. At least this game presents a marquee matchup of great athletes, with Browns cornerback Joe Haden battling Steelers wide receiver Mike Wallace all night.

Because it might be tough to get the ball to Wallace deep, Ben Roethlisberger's most reliable option will be handing off to Rashard Mendenhall. He busted out against the Bengals, and the Browns' front seven just got run over by the Baltimore 1-2 punch of Ray Rice and Ricky Williams. It will be difficult for the Browns to counter on the ground with a banged-up backfield hitting the Steelers' 3-4 wall. Steelers 30, Browns 10.

Lock of the Week

San Diego Chargers over Buffalo Bills. Despite the annoyance of a short week, the Chargers didn’t mind their long flight back home after their Monday night win at Jacksonville. Now, it's the Bills' turn to take a cross-country trip, and their freefall will continue. They've dropped five straight games and come limping in to play a team that's dominated in December in recent years. Philip Rivers is coming off his best game of the season and will build on that, exploiting a depleted Buffalo secondary all over the field. Then he will turn it over to running back Ryan Mathews to play closer. Chargers 31, Bills 17.

Upset of the Week

Philadelphia Eagles at Miami Dolphins. To compare the Eagles to Miami's NBA team isn't fair to the Heat, because at least that version of the Dream Team got to its league finals. The Eagles have had a long time to recover from their loss at Seattle, which ended their playoff dreams, and they'll be ready for an emotional rebound on the East Coast. Of course, it doesn't hurt that quarterback Michael Vick will be back and helped by the return of his top wide receiver, Jeremy Maclin.

As well as the Dolphins are playing on offense, they have struggled with elite pass-rushing opponents—and the Eagles are that type of team with Jason Babin, Cullen Jenkins and Trent Cole. Vick will put on a South Beach show to give Philly fans at least something to cheer about, even if it's too late. Eagles 31, Dolphins 24.

Rest of the Week

Atlanta Falcons at Carolina Panthers. The Panthers got their first division win of the season last week, and they will look for a much bigger one against the Falcons, who are scratching for a wild-card berth. Atlanta tried to get its downfield passing game going in Houston, but it will go back to the power running game to get back on track offensively. That will set up more comfortable opportunities off play-action for Matt Ryan. The Falcons, however, will give some big plays to Cam Newton, and they will need to grind this one out late. Falcons 20, Panthers 17.

Houston Texans at Cincinnati Bengals. Cracks are starting to show in the Bengals' run defense. In a matchup of rookie quarterbacks—T.J. Yates vs. Andy Dalton—expect both teams to rely on the ground game. As much as Cincinnati trusts Dalton, its coaches don't want him dropping back often against Wade Phillips' 3-4 pressure defense. The advantage between the tackles goes to the power combination of Arian Foster and Ben Tate over Cedric Benson. Texans 23, Bengals 20.

Indianapolis Colts at Baltimore Ravens. The Colts played until the end against the Patriots but fell a touchdown short. They'll need to have their best emotions on hand again, as they return to Baltimore to face an unforgiving crowd. The Ravens have entered escape mode, meaning they want to get wins as simply as possible while linebacker Ray Lewis is on the shelf. Here, it's just a lot more handoffs to Rice and Williams, with Joe Flacco putting on the finishing touches with one well-timed deep shot. Dan Orlovsky played well for Indy last week, but he faces a much tougher defense on the road this week. Ravens 38, Colts 7.

Kansas City Chiefs at New York Jets. Here come the Jets again. They looked lost for three quarters at Washington, but desperation kicked into high gear in the fourth quarter, putting them back in familiar wild-card striking distance. Old Patriots foe Romeo Crennel will dial up plays to rattle Mark Sanchez, but it won't take much offense for New York here. The Jets' defense should come up with multiple sacks and turnovers at home, setting up good things for a revitalized running game. Rex Ryan won't let up on Tyler Palko. Jets 20, Chiefs 10.

Minnesota Vikings at Detroit Lions. The Lions need to get their act together on defense—and fast—because with Adrian Peterson set to return for Minnesota, there are many concerns here. Rookie quarterback Christian Ponder, leaning on his other big-play cog, Percy Harvin, is getting better each week and won't face the same pressure with Peterson at his side “all day.” The problem is, the Vikings' secondary is in shambles and won’t be able to slow down Matthew Stafford, Calvin Johnson and the rest of the Lions' passing game. Lions 34, Vikings 22.

New England Patriots at Washington Redskins. Mike Shanahan will find ways to exploit the Patriots' makeshift defense, sticking with rookie Roy Helu in the running game and getting Rex Grossman to deliver a few deep shots. Grossman, however, is guaranteed to take some bad sacks and throw a terrible interception or two. Of course, that means extra possessions for Tom Brady to go to work on the Redskins' defense with Wes Welker and Rob Gronkowski. Shanahan and Bill Belichick won't tell us much about their teams before this game, but let's remove the mystery here. Patriots 34, Redskins 19.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Jacksonville Jaguars. There are rumors about both of these struggling Florida franchisees relocating to California in the near future. In the present, coaches Raheem Morris of Tampa Bay and Mel Tucker of Jacksonville just want a strong effort from their players and a much-needed win. Josh Freeman is expected to return as the Bucs' starting quarterback, and that's all we need to know to pick this game. Freeman has had an off year, but he can still easily outduel rookie Blaine Gabbert. Bucs 17, Jaguars 13.

Oakland Raiders at Green Bay Packers. Former Raider Charles Woodson is expected to return from his head injury, and he'll be hungry to make plays against Carson Palmer. Woodson and fellow Packers cornerback Tramon Williams should be able to overwhelm Palmer's injury-riddled wideout corps. At this point, the Raiders would take Aaron Rodgers' fifth and sixth options, James Jones and Randall Cobb. They probably will feel good about their pass rush and secondary—until Rodgers starts throwing to all his targets. Packers 48, Raiders 14.

San Francisco 49ers at Arizona Cardinals. The 49ers will have to contend with Cardinals running back Beanie Wells without hamstrung star linebacker Patrick Willis. They still have plenty of pop in their front seven, led by the NFL's leading tackler, NaVorro Bowman. On the other side, the Niners are becoming less about Frank Gore and more about trusting Alex Smith to make plays downfield to his tight ends and wide receiver Michael Crabtree. On a special teams note, Pro Bowler-punter-to-be Andy Lee will make sure he doesn't pad the Pro Bowl credentials of Patrick Peterson. 49ers 24, Cardinals 14.

St. Louis Rams at Seattle Seahawks. Remember how these teams battled for first place at the end of last season with sub.-500 records? The Seahawks, at 5-7, are actually very similar to last year's team while the wheels have come off 2-10 St. Louis. The Rams have already seen multiple offensive linemen, wide receivers and cornerbacks drop, and the injury bug has them down to possibly starting Tom Brandstater at quarterback in prime time. With another chance under the lights, it will be Marshawn Lynch's time to shine again. Seahawks 27, Rams 10.